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Don Martin's Blog

When Larry Miller clumsily declared on radio that women who insist on wearing a niqab to their Canadian citizenship ceremony should stay in their native country, he nailed the political pulse of the rural heartland. But the real question is why this issue has gone visceral and viral in Canadian public opinion now.

Conspiracy theorists sounding the alarm about the 'Toronto tunnel' as a Pan-Am Games terrorism launch pad underline public fear factors stoked by a government which talks like there’s a terrorist plotting against every shopping mall. What’s worse, we’re starting to believe them.

Stephen Harper’s signature bills always look their best at first blush. Only when devilish details are exposed and word meanings put under a microscope is there the flutter of red flags over proposed legislation.

The oil price crashes. Rigs quickly idle and oilsand expansions are mothballed. Transient workers scatter to their home provinces. Housing prices fall. Office towers empty out. In short order, the Alberta government swings a blunt axe at bloated program spending.

Gone is the prime minister’s brooding insular defiance; on is Harper the problem-fixer, the calming conciliator; the humanitarian; the populist who high-fives hockey fans and rewards life-saving heroics.